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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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Gbe 1Hnf\>ersftE of Gbtcago 

THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION 

THE LECTURE- STUDY DEPARTMENT 



No. 176,— Price, 10 Cts. 



HN 64 
.H86 
Copy 1 



OUR COUNTRY: A STUDY 
IN SOCIAL ECONOMY 



SYLLABUS OF A 
COURSE OF SIX 
LECTURE-STUDIES 



BY IRA WOODS HOWERTH, PH.D. 
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY 



CHICAGO 

Gbe TIlnftfersftE of Gbfcago press 

1903 



EXERCISES 

Topics for exercises are given at the end of the outline of each lecture. Answers 
in writing, to not more than two questions each week, are invited from all persons 
attending the lecture. These should be written on one side of the paper only, a 
broad margin being reserved on the left. The name of the center, with some 
signature of the writer, should stand at the top of the first page. The exercises 
should be sent to Ira W. Howerth, Ph.D., The University of Chicago, Chicago, 
so as to arrive at least two days before the following lecture. They will be re- 
turned at the Review, the following week, with such marginal and oral comments as 
they seem to require. If application is made to the lecturer, there will be an Exam- 
ination at the end of the course for students who are qualified and desire to take it. 

Any of the books referred to in these lectures may be obtained at special rates 
from The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 111. Prices will be quoted on 
application. 



Readings in connection with each lecture are designated in the 
syllabus. The syllabus is provided with a perforated leaf which 
each student desiring University credit or recognition in any form 
should fill out immediately after the opening of the course, and 
mail to the Secretary of the Lecture-Study Department, Uni- 
versity Extension Division, University of Chicago. 

The conditions on which University credit can be secured are 
given on the second page of the leaf. 

Gift 

S27 r b 



me. 

Zbe raniveteftB of Cbicago STUDENT'S APPLICATION 



THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION DIVISION 

THE LECTURE -STUDY DEPARTMENT 



University Extension Center at_ 
Date of writing this application_ 



FOR REGISTRATION 



Full name_ 



[e. £-., Henry Smith Jones] 
Address 



Date of Birth Place of Birth_ 

Occupation . 



Do you wish University credit? _ 
Title of Lecture Course 



Date of delivery of Cozers> 
Leciu rer. 



If previously registered in the University of Chicago give : 

1. Matriculation number 

2. College or School 

Degree sought 



High Schools, Academies, etc., with periods and dates of attendance^ 



College or Colleges attended, with periods and dates, degrees, etc._ 



Slate definitely what work has been done in the Department hi which the subject to be 
taken occurs 



Instructor notified _ 
(over) 



UNIVERSITY RECOGNITION OF LECTURE-STUDY WORK. 

1. Examinations are permitted on all courses of six lecture-studies and 
upwards. Students are qualified for the examination who (a) have attended not 
less than two-thirds of the total number of lectures and classes included in the 
course of instruction ; (b) have written, to the satisfaction of the lecturer, exercises 
upon topics assigned in connection with not less than two-thirds of the lectures of 
the course. 

2. Credit for work done on University Extension Lecture-Study courses is 
given on the books of the University on the following conditions : 

a) No application for credit will be considered unless the applicant shall have 
submitted to the lecturer before the examination a minimum of eight written exer- 
cises, or the equivalent thereof in theses of greater length. 

b) Applicants for credit must consult the lecturer at the opening of the course, 
when he will designate subjects and topics upon which the work must be based. 
Formal registration must be made with the University before the second lecture, using 
the reverse page of this leaf. 

c) The applicant shall pass an examination on the course at such time as is 
most convenient to himself and his instructor either at the University or, if else- 
where, under supervision which has been approved by his Dean. 

d) No examination or other special fee is charged applicants for credit. 

e) To students satisfying these requirements credit for a Minor will be given 
by the University. 

/) If the lecturer or any other leader approved by the University conducts a 
supplementary class in connection with a course of twelve lecture-studies, a student 
doing satisfactory work therein in addition to the work above mentioned may upon 
recommendation of the lecturer become a candidate for credit for a Major. 

3. A minimum of one year's residence is required of an applicant for a degree. 
Non-resident work is accepted for only one-third of the work required for a degree. 



ASSIGNED READINGS. 

LECTURE I. 

Strong : Our Country. 

LECTURE II. 

Anon. : The Social Horizon. 

LECTURE III. 

Ghent : Benevolent Feudalism. 

LECTURE IV. 

Carlyle : Past and Present. 

LECTURE V. 

William Morris : Signs of Change. 

LECTURE VI. 

The Constitution of the United States. 



" No great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible until a great change 
takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought." — 
John Stuart Mill. 

"The real science of political economy .... is that which teaches nations to 
desire and labor for the things which lead to life ; and which teaches them to 
scorn and destroy the things that lead to destruction." — Ruskin, Unto This 
Last, p. 66. 

"In all social problems there are two questions which need investigation: (i) 
What is the ideal we place before ourselves? (2) How shall we act so as best 
to forward the realization of our ideal?" — Pearson, The Ethic of Free 
Thought, p. 413. 

"Every believer in manliness, and therefore in manly sport, and every lover of 
nature, every man who appreciates the majesty and the beauty of the wilder- 
ness and of wild life, should strike hands with those farsighted men who wish 
to preserve our material resources, in the effort to keep our forests and our 
game beasts, game birds, and game fish — indeed, all the living creatures of 
prairie and woodland and seashore — from wanton destruction." — President 
Roosevelt, The Deer Family, p. 18. 

" [Social distribution] is an exclusively social problem, and can only be solved 
by social action. It is today the most important of all social problems, 
because its complete solution would accomplish nothing less than the abolition 
of poverty and want from society." — Lester F. Ward, Pure Sociology, p. 571. 

"All free governments, whatever their name, are in reality governments by 
public opinion, and it is on the quality of this public opinion that their pros- 
perity depends." — James Russell Lowell. 



LECTURE I. 

THE LAND WE LIVE IN. 

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
This is my own, my native land !" 

— Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto vi. 

The citizens of the United States "enjoy an opportunity never before granted 
to a nation of making their country what they will to have it." — Bryce, American 
Commonwealth (abridged ed.), p. 522. 

" Our country hath a gospel of her own 
To preach and practice before all the world, — 
The freedom and divinity of man, 
The glorious claims of human brotherhood." 

— Lowell, L? envoi. 

I. Introductory. 

1. The purpose of the course : 

a) To set forth the factors and forces of social development 
represented by the United States and its people. 

b) To show how these factors and forces are at present 
utilized. 

c) To suggest methods of securing their more effective use. 

2. The fundamental question to be considered : Given the 
natural resources, the wealth, the labor power, and the social 
institutions of the United States, how may these means of 
development best be utilized for the attainment of the most 
complete general well-being? 

3. The point of view: national as distinguished from partisan, 
class, or individual. 

II. The Land We Live In. 

1. Location and boundary. Area : United States proper, 
3,622,933 square miles (2,970,038 land surface); Alaska, 
531,000; Hawaii, 6,640; Porto Rico, 3,600; Philippines 
and Zulu Islands, 114,000; Guam, 200; in Samoa, 79; 
total, 4,278,452 square miles. 
5 



6 OUR country: a study in social economy 

2. Physical features: elevation, contour of surface, soil, climate, 
water-courses, forests, and mineral beds. 

3. Population (1902), 79,003,000;' per square mile, 26.11. 
Comparative productive power of American labor: British, 
1; French and Swiss, 1^; United States, 2%. Inventive- 
ness : patents issued in 1900, 26,499. 

4. Products. 

a) Agricultural : number of farms, 5,739,657; average size, 
146.6 acres ; value of farms and farm property, $20,- 
514,001,838; value of farm products, $3,764,177,706. 

b) Mineral : gold, silver, coal, petroleum, iron, copper, etc. 

c) Manufacturing: number of plants, 512,734; value of 
product, $13,039,276,566. 

5. Trade and transportation : value of imports, $849,941,184; 
exports, $1,394,483,082; miles of railway in operation (1902) 
201,839. 

6. A century of progress. 

III. Manifest Destiny. 

1. National ideals. 

" When we, in our study of human history, endeavor to gauge the moral force 
or greatness of a people or race, we have but one standard of measurement — 
the dignity and permanence of their ideal, and the abnegation wherewith 
they pursue it." — Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee, Eng. trans., p. 66. 

a) The ideal of "jingoism": commercial supremacy and 
race domination. 

b) The ideal of patriotism: true leadership, moral suprem- 
acy. 

2. Foresight versus Fate. The rise and fall of nations. The 

guaranty of national stability and progress. 

IV. Conclusion. 

We have " a natural base for the greatest continuous empire 
ever established by man," and we can make of our country what 
we will to have it. 
General references: 

Bryce, Social Institutions in the United States. 

Adams, Commercial Geography. 

Stead, The Americanization of the World. 

1 When not otherwise stated, figures are for 1900. 



OUR COUNTRY: A STUDY IN SOCIAL ECONOMY 7 

EXERCISES. 
Trace the growth of the United States, giving some account of 
each acquisition of territory. 

Select an agricultural or manufacturing industry and describe 
its evolution. 

Illustrate in as many ways as you can the difference between the 
individual view-point and the social view-point. 
Discuss the possibility and the value of a national ideal. 



LECTURE II. 

OUR NATURAL RESOURCES, THEIR USE AND ABUSE. 

" The natural resources of the earth have in all ages and in all countries, for a 
time at least, been squandered by man with a wanton disregard of the future, and 
are still being squandered wherever absolute necessity has not yet forced a more 
careful utilization." — B. E. Fernow, Economics of Forestry, p. I. 

"The forest and water problems are perhaps the most vital internal questions 
of the United States." — President Roosevelt, First Message to Congress. 

I. Introductory. 

1. The evolution of economy. 

a) Individual : It is best illustrated in the development of 
industry. The large industry and the "trust." 

b) National : The rise of nations, war, diplomacy, commerce. 

c) Social : It involves the development of the social con- 
sciousness. True social economy implies a wise hus- 
bandry of the material and spiritual means of social 
advancement. 

2. The raison d'etre of economy. Progress, individual or 
national, may be measured by the degree of economy prac- 
ticed. 

II. The Use and Abuse of Our Natural Resources. 
1. The land. 

a) Amount (not less than 1,500,000 square miles of arable) 

and quality. 
b) Distribution : Large estates, increase of tenantry from 
25.5 per cent, in 1880 to 35.3 per cent, in 1900. Land 



8 OUR COUNTRY : A STUDY IN SOCIAL ECONOMY 

speculation, the " unearned increment," and the single 
tax (a tax levied on the value of land irrespective of 
improvements). 
c) Practical measures of reform : intensive farming, im- 
proved methods of distributing public lands, irrigation, 
a higher land tax. 

2. Forests. 

a) The lumber industry — the fourth great industry of the 
the country. 

b) Wanton destruction of forests : by fire ($50,000,000 
annually) and by extravagant timber-cutting. Evil 
results of denudation of land — France, China, Palestine. 

c) The present timber supply : In forty years at the most, 
according to the present secretary of agriculture, our 
timber supply will be exhausted, unless immediate and 
extensive action is taken. Possible supply from other 
countries. 

d) Scientific forestry, as practiced abroad, and the efforts of 
our nation to inaugurate it. 

3. Anthracite coal. 

a) The national supply. Sources : Pennsylvania and Colo- 
rado. Area of Pennsylvania field, 496 square miles. 
Estimated to last eighty to one hundred years. 

b) Monopoly : In 1896, 96.29 per cent, of all the anthracite 
coal fields were controlled directly or indirectly by the 
railroad companies. Five railroads control 90 per cent, 
of the total area. 

c) Suggested measures of reform : public control, and pub- 
lic ownership. 

III. Conclusion. 

Our continued prosperity and general well-being demand the 
preservation of our material resources by the practice of a wise 
social economy through appropriate legislation. 

General references : 

Baker, Monopolies and the People. 
George, Land and Land Policy. 
Fernow, Economics of Forestry. 
Newell, Lrrigation. 
Roberts, The Anthracite Coal Lndustry. 



OUR country: a study in social economy 9 

EXERCISES. 
Discuss one of the following topics : the single tax, the coal 
monopoly, forestry, irrigation. 

Compare the benefits and the evils of the trust, and tell how, 
according to your opinion, the evils may best be diminished. 
Give a brief history of political economy, and justify the use of 
the expression, "social economy." 
Write an essay on "The Mineral Products of the United States." 



LECTURE III. 

WEALTH AND WELFARE. 

" 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 

— Goldsmith, The Deserted Village. 
" The excellence of the social state does not lie in the fulness with which 
wealth is produced and accumulated, but in the fact that it is so distributed as to 
give the largest comfort and the widest hope to the general mass of those whose 
continued efforts constitute the present industry of the nation and the abiding 
prospect of its future well-being." — Rogers, Work and Wages, p. 573. 

"There is no wealth but life — life, including all its powers of love, of joy, 
and of admiration." — Ruskin, Unto This Last, p. 83. 

I. Introductory. 

1. Prosperity and progress. The distinction between wealth 
and welfare. 

2. The definition of wealth. 

a) Economic. Its justification, inconsistencies arising from 
it, etc. 

b) Ethical. Ruskin's contention. 

3. Our national wealth. 

a) Amount (estimated value $95,000,000,000) and growth 
(more than doubled in twenty years). 

b) Real wealth and "spurious" wealth. 

c) The possibilities of production. 
II. The Distribution of Wealth. 

1. The inequality of distribution, and its social effects. 



10 OUR COUNTRY: A STUDY IN SOCIAL ECONOMY 

2. Proposed methods of distribution — equality, according to 
service rendered, according to needs, etc. 

3. Difficulties of the problem. 

III. The Waste of Wealth. 

1. The meaning of waste. Waste and intelligence. 

2. The forms of waste. 

a) The gratification of unwholesome desires. The drink 
bill of the country. 

b) Luxury and fashion. The meaning of luxury. The 
philosophy of fashion. 

c) Advertising. Social gain and loss. 

d) Duplication of manufacturing plants, railways, stores, etc. 

e) Strikes. Losses from 1880 to 1900, according to Carroll 
D. Wright: wage loss, $257,863,478; assistance to 
laborers, $16,174,793; employers' loss, $122,731,121; 
total, $396,769,392.. 

/) War. In less than ten years from the attack on Fort 
Sumter the wars of the world, according to Mulhall, had 
destroyed 1,400,000 lives, and cost $6,000,000,000. 

IV. Wealth and National Welfare. 

1. Methods of economy. 

a) Reform of individual motives and tastes. 

b) Social action. 

2. Obstacles in the way of the social economy of wealth. 

a) Conflicting interests. 

b) Undue conservatism. 
V. Conclusion. 

The possible identification of wealth and welfare. 
General references: 

Laveleye, Luxury. 

Hobson, /<?/&# Ruskin, Social Reformer. 

Bellamy, Equality. Jenks, The Trust Problem. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Discuss fully the question: " Is Luxury Good for Trade?" 

2. Write on the benefits and the evils of fashion. 

3. Collate and discuss the various definitions of wealth. 

4. Give reasons for and against economic equality as an ideal. 



OUR COUNTRY: A STUDY IN SOCIAL ECONOMY II 

LECTURE IV. 

WORKERS AND SHIRKERS. 

" No man is born into the world, whose work 
Is not born with him ; there is always work, 
And tools to work withal, for those who will ; 
And blessed are the horny hands of toil ! " 

— Lowell, A Glance Behind the Curtain. 
"If any would not work, neither should he eat." — 2 Thess. 3 : 10. 
"It is, indeed, certain that industrial society will not permanently remain 
without a systematic organization. The mere conflict of private interests will 
never produce a well ordered commonwealth of labor." — Ingram, History of 
Political Economy. 

I. Introductory. 

1. The labor question — from the standpoint of "labor" and 
from the standpoint of the nation : the laborer seeks to get 
work at good wages ; the nation should seek to get its work 
done at the least possible expenditure of time and energy. 

2. The nation's available labor power. Population (1901), 
76,303,387; males, 39,059,242; females, 37,244,145; popu- 
lation ten years and over, 58,224,600. Estimated number 
of laborers available. 

3. The duty of all to labor, and the ideal division of labor. 
II. The Workers. 

1. Population in gainful occupations (1900): 

Agricultural pursuits 10,438,219 

Professional service 1,264,737 

Domestic and personal service - 5,691,746 

Trade and transportation .... 4,778,233 

Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits - - 7,112,987 

Total 29,285,922 

2. The problem of unemployment. Number of employees 
constantly out of work (1900), 1,271,000. Progress and 
the unemployed. 

III. The Shirkers. 

1. Tramps and able-bodied paupers — their probable number 
and their cost to the nation. Compulsory labor. 



12 OUR COUNTRY: A STUDY IN SOCIAL ECONOMY 

2. The idle rich. Have we a "leisure class" ? The value of 
an aristocracy. 

3. Grafters and exploiters — political sinecures and gamblers. 
Is there a difference between the exploiter and the capi- 
talist ? 

IV. The Organization of Labor. 

1. The social objects of organization. 
a) Superior productivity. 

b ) Shortening the labor day. 

2. Present organization — method, purpose, and attendant evils. 

3. Ideal organization. 

4. Difficulties of the problem. 
V. Conclusion. 

Civilization will never reach its high-water mark until every 
member of society is in his place, and is able to fill that place — 
until the work and the workers of society are organized on the 
principles of a true social economy. 

General references: 

Hobson, The Problem of the Unemployed. 
Ruskin, Crown of Wild Olive. 

EXERCISES. 
i. Discuss the question : "Is labor a blessing or a curse ?" 

2. Write on the labor question of today, as you understand it. 

3. Treat the subject of "graft," as illustrated in your own town. 

4. Is the capitalist, as such, a useful social servant ? Discuss fully. 



LECTURE V. 

LABOR AND LIFE. 

" Here, you see, are two kinds of work — one good, the other bad ; one not 
far removed from a blessing, a lightening of life ; the other a mere curse, a burden 
to life." — William Morris, Signs of Change, p. 142. 

" Some of those who are called artisans, together with many unskilled labor- 
ers, work hard for over long hours, and provide for others the means of refinement 
and luxury, but obtain neither for themselves nor for their children the means of 
living a life that is worthy of man." — Marshall, Principles of Economics, p. 776. 



OUR country: a study in social economy 13 

I. Introductory. 

1. The necessity of labor. True labor a blessing, not a 
curse. 

2. The distinction between true labor and toil. 

3. The distinction between labor and life. 

4. The kinds of employment. 

a) Necessary: the production of goods which gratify the 
wholesome desires of men. 

b) Unnecessary: all forms which do not contribute directly 
or indirectly to the maintenance or advancement of 
social well-being. 

II. Unnecessary Labor. 

1. The production of goods which pander to base or injurious 
desires of men. The manufacture of intoxicants, articles of 
foolish luxury, etc. 

2. The maintenance of an idle class. Tramps, able-bodied 
paupers, the "leisure class." 

3. Restoring the wastes of competition. The destructiveness 
of commercial war. 

III. Necessary Labor. 

It will always be necessary for men to labor to supply their 
legitimate wants, and some of this labor will always be dis- 
agreeable. As a rule, however, it should be performed — 

1. By adults. 

a) The division of labor between men and women. 

b) The social effects of child-labor. Child-labor in the 
South. Newsboys. Legislation required. 

2. Within reasonable hours. 

a) Undue length of the present labor day. 

b) The evil effects of over-employment. Degradation of 
the English laborer. Comparison of the averages of life 
among different classes. " The Man with the Hoe." 

3. Under the best possible conditions. 

a) The dangerous trades : railroading, coal-mining, lead- 
working, etc. 

b) The need of protective labor legislation. 



14 our country: a study in social economy 

IV. Conclusion. 

Labor is for life, not life for labor. Living, not making a 
living, is the true end of man. 

General references: 

Carlyle, Past and Present. 

Ruskin, Unto This Last. 

Ely, Socialism and Social Reform. 

Vandervelde, Collectivism and Industrial Evolution. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Discuss carefully the economic and social effects of the extrava- 
gant expenditure of wealth. 

2. Write an account of the labor legislation of your state. 

3. Select a local industry, and make a special study of the life and 
conditions of the laborers employed in it. 

4. Write on the subject of child-labor in your own state. 



LECTURE VI. 

THE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIAL REFORM. 

"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, 
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States 
of America." 

" The individual has reigned long enough. The day has come for society to 
take its affairs into its own hands and shape its own destinies." — Lester F. 
Ward, The Psychic Factors of Civilization, p. 323. 

I. Introductory. 

1. The nature of the state. 

2. Theories in regard to the proper functions of the state. 

a) The theory of individualism. 

b) The theory of socialism. 

c) The theory of opportunism. 

3. The powers of the United States government. 
II. The Activities of the United States Government. 

1. Protective: the army, the navy, etc. 



OUR COUNTRY: A STUDY IN SOCIAL ECONOMY 1 5 

2. Remedial : pensions, etc. 

3. Industrial : postal service, etc. 

4. Scientific : the census, departmental reports, the Smith- 
sonian Institution, etc. 

5. Educational : West Point, Annapolis, etc. 

III. The Evolution of State Activity. 

1. The early functions of the state. 

2. Collectivism in Europe, in Australasia. 

IV. Conclusion. 

" The true solution of the great social problem of this age is to be found 
in the ultimate establishment of a genuine people's government, with ample 
power to protect society against all forms of injustice, from whatever source, 
coupled with a warm and dutiful regard for the true interests of each and all, 
the poor as well as the rich. If this be what is meant by the oft-repeated 
phrase 'paternal government' then were this certainly a consummation 
devoutly to be wished. But in this conception of government there is noth- 
ing paternal. It gets rid entirely of the paternal, the patriarchal, the 
personal element, and becomes nothing more nor less than the effective 
expression of the public will, the active agency by which society consciously 
and intelligently governs its conduct." — Lester F. Ward, Psychic Factors 
of Civilization, p. 329, note. 

General references : 

Dawes, How We Are Governed. 
Fiske, American Political Ideas. 
Ward, Psychic Factors of Civilization. 
Lloyd, Newest England. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Analyze the structure and functions of the United States 
government. 

2. Make a careful study of the United States postal service. 

3. Write on the subject, " The Government and Agriculture." 

4. Present a study of collectivism in New Zealand. 



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